A crash course in changing the world.
Helping Luis, a local homeless
Hello all,
I’m a Portuguese leaving in Colombia Bogota. And I do have a story to tell. One night I was coming home when I do realize that I lost my home key. So as it was a bit late, and the security copy was unreachable at that time, I had to sleep on the floor, inside the building but nevertheless outside my own home. It wasn’t the best night sleep, I was cold, hard floor… anyway I did felt secure. In the morning I was feeling hungry so I went to a supermarket to eat something. In my way I was thinking how someone homeless should feel like. I did sleep in a building, at my door, in the ground but felt protected and it was ONE night. So it was a soft experience but it triggered something inside me. So as I was going to feed myself I felt the urge to help someone. I did spot a Homeless trying to find food in garbage, so I went to talk with him. He was Luis, so I invited him to have breakfast with me and try to get his story. As we approached the entrance of Carulla a local supermarket chain, Luis started to get a defensive posture. Here in Bogota, unfortunately there are a lot of security problems so almost every commercial space has private security.
So Luis looked at me like he was telling, the security won’t let me in.
I talked with the security and he let Luis in. This was my first reality check.. I was sad, but that’s the reality. So Luis did pick a Tamal (local dish) A desert and a natural juice. I felt he was feeling really uncomfortable, so we did get outside. I tried to get his story but he was closed to himself, and I didn’t force him.
We ate together, sitting down at the Carulla stairs, silently. I was thinking how could I help Luis in a long term. So I remembered that we could make bracelets. I talked to him about that but he didn’t know how. At the end I promise myself to learn how to do some bracelets (the ones hippies always do) and to teach to Luis.
So my goal is to find Luis again (I know where he search for food) and teach him to do some bracelets, so he can sell, and this way having a way to have some incoming.
Any other ideas how I can help Luis?
Thanks for reading
Views: 3
Tags: LEARN2
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Comment by Linda Holt on March 11, 2010 at 4:01pm -
Your story is so illuminating - how bright your light shines! I am convinced that social innovation begins at home a grows outwards from our personal transformation. I look forward to reading more of your blog posts.
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Comment by Raymond M. Kristiansen on March 11, 2010 at 4:17pm -
Yes, it's good you didn't force him. The bracelet idea is good, but, do you know if it will even sell? Well, I guess it will feel much better for him to sell something even if it wont sell well, rather than just begging for money. When I talked with Kenny, a drug addict (who was homeless for 2.5 years earlier) here in Oslo, he spoke with passion how terrible it feels to beg for money. How much it hurts, in the heart.
I look forward to reading your next chapter of this contact with a homeless person. Even if it ends up just being you showing him how to make bracelets - it's a step. He learns something, and you learn something in return.
Have faith, always, in the potential in your fellow man. And thanks for sharing!
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Comment by Ayala Sherbow on March 11, 2010 at 4:33pm -
Vaipec, I have respect for how you let your experience open your mind to others' and what their reality is like. You sound like a very empathetic person. I have no concrete suggestions for how to help Luis, but I was immediately reminded of our first assignment here: the article about innovation in Africa. I think if you review it again, you will find much advice there that is relevant to you and Luis. I have more to say about this, but my littlest one wants me to draw her a picture, so I will have to finish later...
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Comment by Annika Olofsdotter Bergström on March 11, 2010 at 4:37pm -
Talk to him and see how he would like to be helped, what does he need to get away from the street or find a good way of living in the street. Maybe he is comfortable there after all but need a community, shelter and so on.
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Comment by Ayala Sherbow on March 11, 2010 at 5:09pm
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Vaipec, your post set me off on some writing of my own in response. You can see it here:
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Comment by Vaipec on March 11, 2010 at 9:03pm -
Thank you all for encouraging words. My strenght is your inspiration, your strenght in my inpiration
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Comment by Ssozi Javie on March 12, 2010 at 9:55pm -
Vaipec, your story is an inspiration!
There is a slogan - GIVE WORK NOT AID!
Meaning that, either give the person skills to work for you and then pay them. Or give a person an job to work for you an then you pay them.
Hard earned money is not like free money... Many people would choose to sit back and relax when they are getting free money day by day.
Start spending more of your free time with Luis and see what motivates him, find his strength - when you learn this, you will be able to know that he does best.
Another idea would be to do a market research on how bracelet businesses are working in Columbia.
Thanks for sharing this great story!
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Comment by Massive Attack on March 30, 2010 at 10:20pm -
I also gave a homeless man some food. He seemed genuinely surprised cuz first he ask3d me for $ for a burger & soda. I told him he didn't need that, bikes to. My house, come back with spagetthi+ veggies, some fruit, I fo4got water dammit. Well it made me feel good while pondering what else I could do for him. Teaching making bracelets is a good idea.
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Comment by Turil Cronburg on March 30, 2010 at 10:56pm -
Perhaps the best thing to do is simply to ask him if there is something he needs, and see if there is a way to help him get it. Also, ask him if there are things he really enjoys doing, and maybe see if you can help him do those things, instead of bracelet making. Unless he really wants to make bracelets. :-)
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Comment by Thom on April 1, 2010 at 3:14am -
Some people have stories, some people don't. Having a story is holding on to the past, not having one is like letting go and moving on.
A story also tends to get used as an excuse, not necessarily by those who have the story. That is, the story may get used for judging someone as being worthy of compassion, worthy of inclusion into the community.
Myself not having a story of my own, I rather focus on the now, on doing what I believe in. Having to live up to someone else's assumptions of what it takes to be considered worthy (for example, productive or useful) isn't a good feeling if it doesn't match one's own ethics and beliefs.
Getting to know (becoming familiar with) someone and including them in your life, if they wish (that is, without insisting too much), is the best thing because it keeps them in the loop, keeps them in contact with the community so they regain and practice the social skills necessary for participation. Eventually, they can fit in, not so much by changing themselves to become like everyone else, but instead by being accepted for themselves and capable of interacting with the community of people.
Viewing people as productive entities is not humane, is not necessary. Listening, being open to learn about someone (if and when they want that), and allowing them to be themselves and become who they want to be and do what they are really wanting to do is the greatest gift to give anyone or to receive. And in return, we learn something new from each other because we allow each other to dream differently, and bring about dreams different than what we can imagine for others.
What are their interests, what are their dreams, what will we learn from them, how can we be a part of their dreams? Those questions don't get answered instantly, they get answered and continuously change throughout each of our lives. Continuously. Changing.
I don't believe it's about people having a problem or being a problem. Instead, it's that someone is not included, is not allowed to be involved in others' lives, in the community as a wh***. That tends to come from the community not really being wh*** and instead a bunch of individuals who go home and plop down from their tiredness after working at a job that doesn't directly benefit their community. In essence, people in the community aren't really shunning the homeless any more than they shun their neighbors and everyone else.
If anything, the presence of homelessness is a symptom of a community made up of non-collaborating individuals and families. If a community was actually self-aware, then homelessness wouldn't really exist because everybody would be addressed the instant they showed up on the street, if not before. This is why I don't see homelessness as a problem, but instead as a symptom of other community-wide circ***tances to be addressed.
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